"...devastating blow to the civil rights community."

A 6-2 vote on Tuesday in the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Michigan's ban on using affirmative action for university admissions and Al Sharpton is none too happy, calling it a "devastating blow to the civil rights community" and sending out the battle cry to "mobilize immediately."

The Supreme Court decision upholding the state of Michigan’s ban of using race as a factor in affirmative action is a devastating blow to the civil rights community. The ramifications of this will be far reaching and could tie us up in endless battles. We must mobilize immediately for state referendums to counter this decision to protect the ongoing battle to redress the historic needed repairs to racial discrimination.

The ruling simply upheld the passing of the 2006 ballot initiative of adding an amendment to the Michigan constitution that bans the practice. At that time, Sharpton voiced his opinions loudly, shouting at a rally:

If you do not keep affirmative action in place, you will not have a job at all.

Along with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who read the minority opinion at the Supreme Court ruling, Sharpton defends affirmative action programs on the grounds of fixing racial discrimination. To that same crowd at the 2006 rally, Sharpton proclaimed:

They had laws specifically against us, which is why they have laws for us to repair the damage they did to us.